Speedweek Conclusion

Hi all!  I know I'm a little late on this post, but we had quite the exit from the southeast and just now sitting down to report on our last race of Speedweek.  We had a little luck from mother nature on Sunday, as our race just so happened to coincide with a break from the clouds and rain to reveal the glorious sunshine we had been craving all week long.   Whitney was especially happy about this as she prefers crits in dry conditions.

The Global Imports Sandy Springs Cycling Challenge is a fun course, lots of turns, and certainly not flat.  Pete Wicker of Outback Bikes drove us to the race and it was super fun to have one of our major sponsors with us!  Mike from the shop also met us at the course and it was awesome to have them cheering on.  Very special experience to race for the good folks and businesses that support and believe in us.

Thanks to Mike for all the race photos!

Whitney was sitting in 4th overall for the Lap Leader competition, just a couple laps behind.  That's where aggressive racing and countless attacks will lead you.  Whitney continued with this approach during our race and snagged up some more points.  After so many days of racing, the little bump in the course (the hill) started to take its toll and the last lap consisted of a handful of racers who were still hungry enough to hightail it to the finish and many whose legs just didn't want to go around in circles anymore.  We attempted to be in the former group, weaving through the later group, on the last lap but of course if you're weaving through the later group, you did something wrong in terms of positioning.   Oh well.  I managed a 16th for the day and Whitney came in 26th.  It came down to a tie breaker for 3rd place in the Lap Leader competition as Whitney scored enough points to catch up with Christina Gokey-Smith.  Unfortunately for us, it went to Christina as she finished in the top 10 for the day.  In the end, Whitney finished with a 15th place overall and I finished 25th.

The bump on the course

While the crit ended at 4:30, the race continued as we quickly disassembled our bikes to screech out of the parking lot for a 5pm departure to the airport.  My flight was at 7.  We made it to the airport at 6pm thanks to Pete!   How my bike and I ended up on the plane... I'm not sure.  A HUGE thanks to Pete and Kate, Outback Bikes, the Keiths, Steve and Elizabeth, and Ashley from Swagger for their great company and help all week.  We couldn't have done it without you!!!

Next up: Tour de Grove in St. Louis!